any news on the EI Long haul fleet ?
Has the long haul 330 fleet been upgraded yet with PTV's ??
Just a thought as Im back on them to ORD in a couple of months and was curious as to what had changed since Feb ??
Also any news on fleet additions/new fleet types ?

Not really any news about EI's long haul fleet at the moment. They have ordered two new A332s. They are expected to arrive next year some time. As to when next year, I am not exactly sure. Someone else may want to clarify this for me.

Unfortunately, no. There were rumors (keyword: "rumors") not too long ago that PTVs would be installed on all the A332s very soon, but as far as I know for the moment EI-DAA is the only A330 with PTVs.

I won't expect much updates on EI's long haul aircraft for a while. The airline is currently waiting for Open Skies to go through before making any moves in the American market. Until then...well...we'll just have to wait and see.

Quoting Btriple7 (Reply 1):As to when next year, I am not exactly sure. Someone else may want to clarify this for me.

April as far as I know

Quoting Btriple7 (Reply 1):I won't expect much updates on EI's long haul aircraft for a while.

Privitasition next month will have a large bearing on this aswell - I would'nt be surprised to see an announcement on a 787/350 order this side of Christmas, although the continued delays on Open Skies will obviously have a bearing.

1 A332 and 1 A333 actually, and with problems on the Open sky front, it looks like they'll be used to boast frequency and service on the existing US routes according to DM. The guesses are JFK will go to all A333, BOS may get more of the A332's, but 1 from DUB and 1 from SNN, and ORD may go to the A332 if they finally decide to put PTV's in, because the A333 can't handle the extra weight without serious weight penalties.
(Also had heard the new A333 is not the X type, therefore ORD will still have an issue on these, has this been confirmed?)

Quoting Pilot21 (Reply 3):Also had heard the new A333 is not the X type, therefore ORD will still have an issue on these, has this been confirmed?

I heard that too in one of the Irish Aviation Threads. Any reason for this? Is there are huge price difference? I would have thought EI would have wanted the X-type so as to be able to equip it with PTVs.

Quoting Joost (Reply 5):I seem to remember that they buy the aircraft second-hand. They might have had a good deal on this plane.

The 2 aircraft due next yr are new, and only 1 of their existing fleet was secondhand (EI-ORD was operated by Sabena before it joined EI if I remember correctly).
All the A332's were ordered brand new, and the original batch of 3 A333's (EI-DUB, EI-CRK & EI-SHN) were originally built for Air Inter, but never delivered after it was bought by Air France, hence they got them cheap and quickly, but EI were always the first operators.

I was always concerned as to why the -300 is another -301, not a -303X or even a -302. As long as they equip it with PTVs and it can do ORD, fine; otherwise, shareholders will have something to say about it.

As for new routes, unfortunately, the Open Skies thing is a bit of a problem. The EU has discretion to allow the Irish govt to proceed with this and I would guess (and hope) that the Minister for Transport is currently trying to persuade the EU to do so. To permit Ireland to do so would be reasonable, in that the Irish position fits in within the parameters laid down by the EU, i.e.
- That the agreement with the US contains clauses required by the EU (since the deal was negotiated under EU supervision, this will be the case), and
- That allowing the deal to go ahead would not undermine the ongoing EU negotiations with the US; (since the Irish have no interest in US airline o'ship or mgmt, which is the major sticking point, then letting the Irish mini-deal go ahead can have no impact on the negotiations.

Furthermore, since EI won't be able to use its new rights until next Summer and since the EU has said it's confident that O/S will be in place by year end, what do they lose in allowing the Irish to go ahead.

If EI doesn't get the right to expand (and it needs - or specifically, potential investors need - to know by September, before privatisation), it will be in a very serious situation, since it is under increasing pressure from FR on short haul routes.

The Irish govt needs to let the EU know that if it acts unreasonably or unfairly against Ireland, there will be consequences; to refuse to agree would amount to the imposition of a competitive disadvantage (since most other EU countries effectively have O/S already and thus the delay doesn't bother them that much) and no EU agency should be allowed to do this.

Let's hope the govt gets this right; there needs to be Open Skies; we've waited long enough. When negotiating power was surrendered to the EU on foot of the 2003 ECJ ruling, it was assumed that the EU would act in good faith; never was it anticipated that we would be hung up on something which was totally irrelevant to it and this should not have been allowed to happen.